@Uraael@blahaj.zone

Uraael

@Uraael@blahaj.zone

I am Uraael.

Pronounced "Yu-RAYL" it's the name of my Soul which exists outside our dimensons of space and time, waiting for me in the car.

Note: what you see in the name box is whatever amuses me that day. Just call me Uraael.

Quiet Scottish Geek. Veteran Defender of Social Justice, Privacy and Human Freedoms. Gentle soul undergoing Kintsugi. Country boy at heart.

I am romantically entwined with @MariaTheMartian, my Twin Flame. 🔥🔥. We used to joke that our Love could melt servers...and then Firefish actually died. Um, sorry about that.

FEDIVERSITY:
Proud #Sharkey user since Nov '23
Proud #Firefish user since Feb '23
Proud #Fediverse user since Sep '22.

#Hashtags #Geek #SciFi #Scotland #Politics #Computing #Linux #Software #Music #Writing #PCGaming #Emulation #MentalHealth #AFinerWorld #Humanism #SocialJustice #TransRights #Feminism #AntiFascism #RacialEquality #LGBTQIA+ #MFM #Art #ShinyThings #FreePalestine #HaveANiceDay #OponionsLikeOpinionsButMoreLayered

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journalismrss, to journalism

It’s Corbyn’s last stand. But can he beat Labour's Starmerite machine? | Andy Beckett https://www.theguardian.com/politics/commentisfree/article/2024/may/24/jeremy-corbyn-independent-general-election-labour-keir-starmer

Uraael,

@journalismrss

“He’s torn,” his close ally Diane Abbott, who herself may soon have to decide whether to run against Labour as an independent, told me a few months ago. “He’s a Labour person. He’s always been a Labour person.”

He still is a Labour person. It's Labour that isn't Labour any more, having abandoned any pretence of hewing to Leftist ideology. What happened under his tenure is that the party polarised into two camps. Starmer and co ousting him and anyone like him was as much pogrom against ideological enemy as we see elsewhere. If he could ignite that same revolutionary fire in people again he could be as influential to UK politics as Farage has been.

I mean, as a Scot I wouldn't vote for him but I've always believed he's exactly the progressive force England needs right now.

MadeyeTheCarnaptious, to random
@MadeyeTheCarnaptious@mastodon.scot avatar

ENOUGH.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/5/24/icj-orders-israel-to-halt-its-offensive-on-rafah-gaza-in-new-ruling

Uraael,

@MadeyeTheCarnaptious Also: Never Again.

Konghammer, to random
@Konghammer@retro.pizza avatar

The meme Doge has died. Fuck me today sucks shit.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/kabosu-dog-doge-internet-meme-died-rcna4472

Uraael,

@Konghammer So Death. Such sad. owo.

Uraael, to StarTrek

With one episode of Star Trek Discovery left, some thoughts.

This last season hasn't gripped me as much as I wanted it to. I forgot yesterdays ep had aired until late last night, whereas I feel the absence of XMen97this week very keenly. There's not much emotion in me as we head into the series finale.

Too much change on the bridge. I miss Saru. Saru made Discovery special. His absence is a void. Disco already suffered a charisma drop when Michelle Yeoh left and Mary Wiseman's role in S4 was so reduced (she's back now but still feels absent, somehow...). Losing Doug Jones as well...there's only so much damage you can cover up with the wonderful Wilson Cruz and David Ajala.

Owoshukun and Detmer MIA. What the hell? Again, they are part of the show and their replacements feel so bland and abritrary, especially on a show designed to keep the ancillary characters as set-dressing.

Grey leaving as well? Their story consumed two seasons and now...boomph...that relationship just done and dusted. That doesn't feel right.

A last season should be a celebration of everything this show had and it feels like half the crew we've spent seven years following is missing.

It's still beautiful to look at and each episode is giving us great things to enjoy...but...I dunno, maybe it's me. Maybe that gap between 4 & 5 was just too long.

I do like the Breen. I don't like that Lak's story is yet more runaway royalty trope. Mol's 1-dimensional aggro-snarling schtick is exhausting.

sinituulia, to random
@sinituulia@eldritch.cafe avatar

Hey. Esteemed masculine internet stranger. Apropos of nothing:

Put on makeup sometimes, or ask somebody to put it on you! There are high chances it will make you feel great and/or make you look rad, beautiful or well rested! It's great, if you want to!

Uraael,

@sinituulia This masc presenting enby loves having painted nails. ☺️💅

Uraael, to random

There's a very real phenomenon here of talking mostly to yourself until America wakes up. C'mon Yurpeans, Brits etc, where are youse? 🤗

Uraael, to Sony

Remembering that time Sony got caught lying to Gamers, but instead of apologising acted like it was all a harmless goof by Beloved Uncle Sony and his only crime was being too "funky fresh".

https://www.marketsmiths.com/2015/badvertising-too-funky-fresh/

jonn_blanchard, to random
@jonn_blanchard@retrochat.online avatar

The fact that google search is now full of nonsense is hardly surprising given they’ve scraped all the websites and killed traffic to the original sites indiscriminately. The fact that nobody considered the dangers in this, or not enough to fix it, is peak Google.

Uraael,

@jonn_blanchard Saw an article a little while ago that this is actually the result of one guy, the same guy who ran Yahoo into the ground...its not a case of no-one considered, it was hostile takeover from within the company to push out anyone raising these objections.

I'll see if I can find it.

mikoto, to random
@mikoto@akko.wtf avatar

A wild @Seirdy has appeared on Ars Technica
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2024/05/bing-outage-shows-just-how-little-competition-google-search-really-has/

Uraael,

@mikoto @Seirdy Wait until they discover the Browser situation....

Yay, Seirdy! ​:blobcat_flower:​

clive, to random
@clive@saturation.social avatar

If you haven't seen it yet, go check out @ernie's new search engine ...

... which automatically appends "&udm=14" to the end of your search query ...

... thereby triggering Google to give you your results with no AI answer at the top, and (for me, anyway) no ads

It's like google from 2004 or something

https://udm14.com

Uraael,

@ernie @callimachus @clive The problem there is people should want to get rid of Google, and You do you has limits when it involves harm to themselves or others.

Uraael,

@ernie @clive @callimachus

I hope you realise you very quickly moved there from a position of considering others to raw self interest.

And I see you're still invested in Google's own widely known policy of honey, flies, etc...providing free everything so users got hooked and sold it all to their friends, and now can't extricate themselves because the web of self-interest has them stuck.

It's not "dictating" to warn that "fire burns so please don't touch it". That's called Care. We shouldn't be glossing over dangers to over-subscribe to the principle of sovereign self-determination when there's very real harm involved.

Uraael, (edited )

@ernie @clive @callimachus Vinegar is amazing on chips and in salad dressings. :)

Peace out.

ChrisMayLA6, to random
@ChrisMayLA6@zirk.us avatar

Vital point:

The date of the general election seems designed to disenfranchise young people as much as possible, since most university students who vote do so at their term-time address. Universities are in recess on 4 July & many students will be at their parents’ or between university accommodation. Please make sure anyone you know in this situation registers at an appropriate address, preferably with a postal vote.

Michelle Kimber
Plymouth
(Guardian letters)

Uraael,

@ChrisMayLA6 Are we sure we can trust postal votes?

uncanny_kate, to random
@uncanny_kate@dice.camp avatar

Pro tip: Lactose-free milk lasts MUCH longer in the fridge than normal milk (check the dates in them!), so even if you're not lactose intolerant, if you live alone and struggle with milk going bad, it may be worth the extra. There's no significant taste difference. (And I'm a supertaster, I know subtle taste differences.)

Uraael,

@uncanny_kate Can confirm. I have gone Lacto-free for dietary reasons and it really does last so much longer than yer standard cow juice, and tastes exactly the same.

Uraael, to random

Wow, THIS is an eye-opener. A visual representation of what Search API powers what other Search engine. I'd no idea Bing had become so prevalent. I didn't even realise my own choice of engine, Startpage, had abandoned Google for it!

NB: This actually lists SP as still using Google but Seirdy's list doing the rounds elsewhere correctly states it as having moved.

RE: https://mastodon.social/users/Mojeek/statuses/112490098042113494

Seirdy, to random
@Seirdy@pleroma.envs.net avatar

Certain search engines have reached out to me since I made my list of search engine indexes asking to be moved from the Bing-based engines section to the semi-independent engines section because they have their own indexes.

All returned zero organic link results for some time during the Bing outage.

Qwant has contacted others (not me) regarding claims of Bing-dependence whenever it became a hot topic, insisting that it mixes results from its own index with Bing (something usually against the Bing ToS unless you somehow manage to negotiate an exception, which rarely happens and has finer details covered by NDAs). Has anybody seen evidence of Qwant using its own index? It’s one of the engines whose organic results went completely dormant during the Bing outage.

Uraael,

@Seirdy

Qwant's service was absolutely non-functional yesterday. Are we expected to believe it's coincidence that "their own index" collapsed at the same time and for the same length of time as Bing's API did? "We've built an index but it doesn't work without someone else's bigger index" isn't building an index.

I can't see that they have a leg to stand on, and I'm moving them into the negative column for even daring to try and suggest otherwise.

matty, to random
@matty@blahaj.zone avatar

I want to install this mod but like this is so overkill 💀
https://www.leefish.nl/mybb/showthread.php?tid=6757

Uraael,

@matty Do it do it do it

JackTheCat, to random
@JackTheCat@mastodon.scot avatar

Sunak takes a question from the shop floor. The question is posed by a tory councillor for Derbyshire 'cunningly' disguised as a worker. The councillor was not identified as such when asking the question.

Uraael,

@JackTheCat This kind of thing makes me so angry. Blatantly deceptive. Much like the BBC padding audiences with biased individuals for certain late night discussion programmes.

icing, to random
@icing@chaos.social avatar

duckduckgo still not working. Looks like a deployment at scale without rollback options...

My condolences to the poor ops people sweating on this now...

Update: to be precise, DDG fails because Bing is not working.

Uraael,

@icing Ach, they're probably having the time of their lives, adrenaline coursing through their nervous systems. I expect at least one to be thinking "I haven't felt this alive in years!" 😁

Uraael, to microsoft

Being cut off from Search today means I'm left to my own devices to come up with a searing nickname for it: is the current front runner. I think we can do better.

During today's I've been mysteriously drawn to plucky British (!) Search Engine, Mojeek. At first glance they're doing a lot that I like:

They've also partnered with the Mullvad browser, one of the best choices for default browsing Privacy, as reported in exhaustive detail on Privacytests.org

Of course, the proof is in the usage pudding and results so far have been...unspectacular...but it is early days and I think I'm going to give them a road test for a while and see how I get on.

Uraael, to random

What the heck has happened to Search this morning? Both Startpage and Ecosia faling to return any results for simple phrases. Startpage can't "find any results" for fellow Search engine, Qwant? And neither engine could find any results for "daemon"???

Uraael,

@D_Angua_VonU Searx is FOSS. Results vary depending on host.

https://searx.space

Uraael,

@D_Angua_VonU Not sure I'll ever be that desperate, lol. But thanks.

I'm using Mojeek for now. Not FOSS but seems ok.

aral, to DuckDuckGo
@aral@mastodon.ar.al avatar

“Choice.”

Qwant search for foo at 09:18: Qwant is temporarily unavailable.
Ecosia search for foo @ 09:17: There was a problem loading search results for “foo”
Two astronauts staring at Earth from space. Front astronaut: “you mean it’s all just Bing?” Rear astronaut, aiming gun at front astronaut: “Always has been.”

Uraael,

@Haijo7 I like what clew is doing if only for the fact it is foregrounding the publication date of each link. Drives me mad looking for a solution to a problem and being fed fifteen year old search links in my first page because of "relevance".

JugglingWithEggs, to random
@JugglingWithEggs@mstdn.social avatar

There are voters out there switching from to Green Party…we’ve seen that happen at a county level in Norfolk.

has taken his rural, nature loving older core vote for granted and they are disgusted at the state of our rivers and fearful of what may come for their children with .

The writing is on the wall for Tories and they won’t vote Labour.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/article/2024/may/23/sunak-backtracked-on-climate-policies-and-voters-may-punish-him

Uraael,

@JugglingWithEggs @MikeFromLFE @TheSwiv Imma be honest: it does feel like there's not a lot to vote for.

Adam_Cadmon1, to random
@Adam_Cadmon1@mastodon.online avatar

Sigh.

So look.

The "press" and the "media" are not the problem people. That so many of you think this is by design.

The press and the media are supposed to be the 4th estate.

The watchdogs of government.

The intelligence wing of the people.

Corporate media is a problem, yes, but the press as an institution are not.

But because so many people remain ignorant to the role of the press, I've no doubt that we will be without them in total sooner rather than later.

Uraael,

@Adam_Cadmon1 Read mine again and understand why the soapbox was needed.

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